Time for change as PBA undergoes structural revamp after 40 seasons

(From L-R) PBA Governors Mert Mondragon, Patrick Gregorio, and Rene Pardo talk to media after their Board of Governors meeting. Bong Lozada/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Asia’s longest professional sports league is about to undergo a major change.

For more than 40 years that the Philippine Basketball Association has existed, it has kept the same structure: a commissioner at the top working closely with the Board of Governors.

But everything is about to change.

PBA Chairman Patrick Gregorio, together with Purefoods Governor Rene Pardo and Rain or Shine Governor Mert Mondragon, said the PBA will undergo a major revamp that would allow its new commissioner to perform a revitalized role.

“We are transforming,” Gregorio said after the PBA Board of Governors held a meeting at the PBA Office in Libis Thursday afternoon. “The new structure of the PBA is the process we have to finalize first before naming the commissioner.”

Incumbent commissioner Chito Salud announced earlier this month that he is resigning from his post effective at the end of the current season.

Gregorio, Pardo and Mondragon are part of the four-member Search Committee for the new PBA Commissioner, with the last member yet to be appointed.

The fourth member, Gregorio said, will be human resources professional not affiliated with the league.

Time for change

Pardo said that all 12 teams of the league were represented during the meeting and all agreed that the world’s second-oldest professional league should make a change.

Gregorio said that all 12 representatives “agreed to review the structure of the PBA.”

“If we just replace the commissioner, the problem would not be solved,” Pardo said. “It’s high time to reorganize. Do it now.”

Gregorio said that they have not finalized concrete changes to the present structure of the PBA, but they can give a more rudimentary output during the PBA All-Star Weekend from March 5 to 8.

Pardo said that part of the change of structure is the growth of the league that now includes a developmental league.

“The league has grown so much,” Pardo said, adding that the commissioner has to attend each game for both the PBA and the PBA D-League.

The Board’s deadline to name the successor for Salud is on or before the end of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup. By then, the improved PBA structure has also been finalized.

Gregorio added that the PBA has to “take care” of the franchises to entice more teams to join the league.

“We have to take care of the investment of the team owners, take care of those franchises to entice more teams,” Gregorio said.

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